For some reason or another, women in science have come up again.
It started with the awesome disaster that was the EU Science Commission idea of what makes a good woman scientist (Science- it's a girl thing)
And now everyone wants to get their opinion on it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/17/women-science-athene-donald
For me, the main problem about being a woman in science is the fact that science is inherently unfriendly to the female. I am 32, I am married and I am in my second postdoc position. I would like a child but contemplating having one when I am officially unemployed as of December 2013 is terrifying.
Nowadays, 2-3 postdocs are not uncommon and if you're lucky, they might be in the same country or the same part of the world. If not, you get to uproot yourself (and your partner) to be somewhere transient.
I can see how the system produces the best science as only the smart and the strong survive but I find it extremely unfair as well.
No easy fix to the problems, just musings.
Sunday, 24 June 2012
Sunday, 14 February 2010
The countdown
It's one year (more or less) before my postdoc contract runs out. I haven't blogged in years, mainly because it got passe and loads of things got caught up in my life.
But I'm now at a crossroads, it's one of the most difficult decisions to make in my life.
Background, I got my 2:1 degree and then finished a PhD at a top university (clue: it's the one that awards you a DPhil) and got a postdoc at another one of the top 3. The last 2 years haven't been quite good enough for a fairy tale ending of getting a nature/science publication that will make me waltz into the next job.
But let's not dwell on that. The problem is now trying to find what else I'm good at or whether I'm going to spend another 3 years chasing the dream.
Spending 10 years of your life doing science and nothing else turns you into something else.
I'd forgotten how cathartic it is to write. It doesn't matter if anyone else is reading this or not but as they say on reality tv shows; I'm about to begin my "journey".
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